6.12.05

Now if I had my own way...

Nothing is probably a better start to a day than watching a litter of newborn pups gambolling about playfully and whining to each other. The lane through which I walk down, it turns out, is a kind of a mating hotspot. Only two weeks back there were these brown set of pups, who have grown up into healthy teenagers. The new set is mostly black in colour. Yesterday evening while the mother was not around, I sidled upto our friends. It is such a nice feeling -- the little things nuzzling against you and wagging their stubby tails furiously.

Oh how I wish I could have a pup of mine own. Two years back, I remember I was in Sarojini Market and I came across this little cute lab pup. I wanted to have him so badly that I almost fixed up a deal with the guy. And called up E and S who were both at work. Their reaction: What? Are you crazy? You and pup can have the flat to yourself!

That was the end of it.

But nothing can beat the fact that I was about to become the proud owner of a baby owl. What happened was, last winter, a former colleague told me that me that her tenant's daughter had rescued a baby owl with broken wings and put it in the Jain Hospital. Now I have always had a fascination for owls. My mum while out for a morning walk came across a baby white owl which had fallen down from a tree. What did she do instead of bringing it home to me? She asked a guard at a building nearby to put it back on the tree.

So this hurt owl was my best chance. On a cold winter evening I made my way to the Jain Hospital. I had to take off my shoes and walk barefoot to the section where birds are housed. A guy there informed me that it had been released after being treated. He took me around the birds' section. All kinds of them - kites, eagles, parrots, sparrows, doves, pigeons, budgeriars - nesting around. The kites were kind of scary. They barely moved in their cages. In a way I felt sad for them. It must have been bloody claustrophobic. To top the injury that I got nowhere near my baby owl, I faced the ignominy of the guy trying to get fresh.

This was a good news though for E. She freaked out when she heard at what might have been. What would you feed it? It would come back with dead rats from its nightly visits outside! I am sure I would have found a way out. But it's not destined to be it seems. Sigh.

20 comments:

Jay said...

You wantec an owl?! How very Harry Potter of you!

Labradors are my favourite beed of dog. I heart labs!

Ron said...

erm..an owl inside a flat is a rather bad idea i think; your roommate was right..think of the dead rats and the droppings and the nightly comings and goings. a puppy now..thats a nice thought...i wouldnt mind one myself. but u know, it would be a little cruel to keep the dog shut up ina small flat all day while we are away at work.
as for s reacting so strongly to the idea of a puppy, i think our friend's dog bit her once, long back...cant remember if it was her or someone else...but ask her how and where anyways..it was rather funny for the rest of us :-)

Delhi's Deviant said...

i had a spitz once. and then it died.
there's nothing worse than handling the death of a pet..especially one as intuitive as a dog.good thing really, u didn't get one.

thalassa_mikra said...

AB, could you possibly send me an email? I wanted to pass some information to you. My email's on my blogger profile.

Anonymous said...

Jay: Why didn't I know that the Hedwig bit was gonna come up! In case you noticed, when my mother (unknowingly) first implanted the idea in my brain with her morning jaunt, Harry wasn't even born:-)

Ron: I had a solution to that. The owl would be a pure vegetarian who would be happy being at home and spend his time with E, S and yours truly.

As for S, that certainly sounds worth checking out;)

Delhi Deviant: One thing which my parents always pointed out when I wanted a dog. Yet...

Thalassa: Yeah will do that. Am very curious now.

Anonymous said...

Moi sentiments egg-zactly.

My parents dig dogs but for poor mortals owning mere flats, a dog is not to be.

thorswheels said...

Good read. Life in all its fecundity!

Mint Chutney said...

Eww. I have a thing about birds in cages.

I'm getting rid of Chutney (not really but a girl can dream). If you pick up the airfare I'll drop him off on my way home next week. : )

Anonymous said...

Toe knee: Hmmm...so how's everything Sexy Indian Bitch?:-)))

A fool on the hill: :-)

Mint chutney: Any time. Poor chutney! Mommy wants to abandon her.

sinusoidally said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
sinusoidally said...

Pen holder on my desk is in the shape of an owl. That is the closest I have come to ever owning a pet.

But I think going to the Jain hospital was a rather sweet gesture. Hope you can find something to your flatmates' liking..?

AB said...

Sinusoidally: Appears E knew the owl story but not the fact that I had trudged to the hospital. She called me up from Bombay highly shocked:-) Naah finding something to my flatmate's liking would be tough. Really tough.

Arjun said...

Wouldn't mind having a pet owl, either. But as a rule, I'm against hutching birds up in cages.

Penny Lane said...

And where are you hiding young lady??

Unknown said...

Sorry bout butting in but....Its been a while and I am very bad at spouting Gyaan. So I'm just sticking to doing what I like. Starting today this blog will host a daily quiz that has 10 questions and a weekly bumper one. The first person to get all questions right within 2 hours of the questions being posted will be given 100 rupees. Do I have a lot of money to throw around? No but I have a few plans. Lets see if it works.

The url where the quiz will be up is http://ray-deo.blogspot.com

Sonal said...

Where art thou?

Arjun said...

Long time no see. Where are you? And have a great new year. :)

Sonia said...

seems like ure really enjoying the new year. no time to blog???

AB said...

I will post soon. It's just that so much keeps happening and don't find the time. Maybe am becoming a bit too lazy.

shyam said...

I thought I'd subscribed to your RSS feed, but apparently I'd not. I am more scatterbrained that I thought I was. Anyway, just dropped by here after a long time. Belated happy new year and all that jazz.